War is Hell
by ReaperHunter000
Summary: Summary too big to fit, summary is inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary**

You can consider this story a crossover between Alpha and Omega and Call of Duty.

Well armed Russian mercenaries are moving in to invade Canada, but Humphrey, Kate, and the others aren't going to let that happen.

War hit's them like a ton of bricks, and they soon have to call in for help.

They get back-up from OC's Midnight, Blackjack, Ricoh, Byron, and Haze who are an American special forces unit.

All hell breaks loose within days, and both sides recieve heavy casualties, but the allied commanders want to end the war quickly.

They send in The U.S. team, as well as the Canadian strike team to hit strategic enemy outposts and cripple their supply routes. Will their plan succeed? Or will everything fall apart?

Bad summary good story. Please R&R a little comment goes a long way.


	2. Day 1: 1100 Hours

**Day 1: 1100 Hours**

War. It was all the political chatter around every fort in and around Jasper, as well as every other base in Canada. The need for cheap oil was driving the Russian's to desperate measures. Threats of invasion, ballistic missiles, and even chemical attacks were given as ultimatums unless the Canadian government would give up their oil at cheaper prices. But they refused.

The most secluded outpost in Canada, the Jasper Park Forward Command Center. Home to two battallions of troops. At best they had a small brigade of 300. It was even granted a Colonel by request of the battallion commanders. He was one of the grumpiest commanders that they had ever seen. His name, Winston.

Everything was done his way when he wanted it done. He didn't spare any of his time to smile, even when his superiors laughed at a prank he would scowl it off and punish those responsible with a month of cleaning latrines. There were rumors that he had taken a bullet through both cheeks and lost the ability to form anything other than a scowl, and others thought that he was conserving his energy to completely flip his lid.

Whenever an inspection would roll around he would personally go out of his way to find the slightest flaw in any barrack so he could flip out every wall locker, over turn every matress, and make those soldiers make it all right again. There were at least two barracks that had their things thrown around every inspection. And there was an inspection at least three times a week.

One of the worst offenders, was under the command of a young Sergeant named Humphrey. Not a single inspection had went by that they got to rest easy. Something was always wrong. To blame, were his squad members. They were the smallest, and most frowned upon squad in the brigade. Mooch, Saltey, Shakey, and Devin. The fact that they were even allowed into the military was a miracle.

They were hardly adept at shooting a rifle, were lazy, and had low marks on their PT tests. The only thing they could do, was drive. They were allowed to drive the Humvee's, and that was it. Thankfully for them, it was the one thing they were good at. they could get their vehicle out of a tight spot in a hurry, and without hitting a single thing. It seemed like the faster they drove the more control they had.

They may have recieved a lot of bad comments, but Humphrey was proud of them. He knew that if you rode with them, you were safe. Everyone else didn't want to admit it, but they knew it too. They were great drivers, but that was it. If it came down to a gun fight, they were screwed.

On the oher end of the hirachy, was Kate. She had joined the military to follow in the footsteps of her father, the colonel. It was to her great surprise when he showed up, and she was delighted to have him around, but that didn't mean he took it any easier on her. She went on to college after high school so she could join in as a lieutenant, and she didn't take that position lightly.

The only down side of her platoon, was Humphrey's squad. It wasn't that she didn't like yelling at them, in fact that was on of her favorite pass times, but she didn't like the reputation that they brought. Thankfully her platoon sergeant Candu was always keeping them busy with something. He had been in the military for 20 years, and worked his way up to master sergeant. The only people in the brigade scarrier than him were First Sergeant Hutch and the colonel.

Anyway, today was the first day that they began to recieve news about the war threats. As expected, they were all outraged. Unsurprisingly there was still no reaction from Winston, just an unsettling grunt and a shake of the head. With war inevitable and all leaders inside preparing battle tactics, it was up to the squad leaders to prepare the troops. Humphrey's squad however, was given a special assignment.

"Son of a bitch why do we have to unload the damn trucks," Saltey complained as he slid on his cap. Humphrey sighed as he tied his boots and shook his head.

"I guess their just trying to conserve fuel you know? It's getting expensive to ship it to us, and if war breaks out were going to need every drop," he replied tucking his laces into his boots.

"Come on Humphrey, you know they're just doing this to keep us from fucking something up," Mooch said harshly as they opened their barrack door and walked out.

"You know if it will make you guys feel better we get to take the 105's down the artillery range," Humphrey said trying to cheer the others up. A wide smile spread across their faces and they nodded.

"So, you guy's think it's going to come to war," asked Devin.

"Personally, I think that we're already there, the Russians just haven't sent in troops yet," Shakey said darkly but then started laughing.

"I give it a week, maybe less," Mooch said laughing at Shakey's reply.

"In any case we'll be in the same spot we are now, driving around people who are completely ungrateful for what we do," Saltey grumbled. Humphrey looked over and punched him in the shoulder jokingly.

"Come one, lighten up, you might not hear it a lot but they appreciate it. Think of it this way, if it wasn't for us, no one would be able to get anywhere," Humphrey had that uncanny habit of trying to make the best of a situation. But not only that, he had a major crush on Kate, and that, also was no secret.

If you could use the word crush, it was more like an obsession. Ever since they had been little he had loved her. He couldn't help himself from staring at her, he thought she was beautiful. He had been friends with her sister Lilly, and even dated her a couple times in high school, but he truely loved Kate. He never would have expected it from her, but Lilly had moved to America to go to college, and supposedly joined the special forces. But no one knew for sure. Kate and Winston did, but they hadn't told anyone.

As the five approached the nearest cargo truck Humphrey unlatched the bed and jumped up into the truck to start handing down cargo. Mostly ammo boxes and artilley rounds was all it was. Hundreds of boxes filled with 5.56 rounds up to .50 BMG rounds. artillery shells were primarily calibered at 105mm, but there were some 155's crammed in the back.

Humphrey started handing down cargo to Devin who passed it down the line until it reached Mooch, who sorted it into seperate piles. One down, 19 to go. They repeated the process for every cargo truck that was parked, spending around an hour to do so. Once all the trucks were unloaded, they began the even more time consuming task of carrying the supplies to their proper locations.

Small shells to the armory, artillery rounds stockpiled next to the guns, diesel and gas to the generators and fuel depot. All in all, 3 hours were spent unloading and carrying supplies. It wasn't too exhausting, just time consuming.

"Sure as hell am glad that's over with," Mooch sighed wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"So now what," asked Devin.

"Hey douchebags wait up," laughed a voice that made them all roll their eyes. Specialist Garth. In their eyes, the most irritating guy on base. Slung over his shoulder was his MacMillan Tac .50 rifle, he appropriately named, Big Mac.

"Ah jeeze what does he want," Saltey grumbled quietly.

"Hey Garth," Humphrey said politely as Garth apprached him.

"How's it going Humphrey, just thought I'd drop by and say hey before I went down to the range," Garth replied pulling Humphrey into a quick bro-hug. Humphrey returned the hug quickly and gave him a quick pat on the back.

"Hey have they told you company anything about the war talk," Shakey asked.

"Not a damn thing, you know how it goes, we'll be the last ones to find out about the attack.

"Hey does any one else hear that," asked Saltey with his ear to the sky. They all shot him a funny look but then they started to hear it to. It was, helicopter rotors. The next thing they knew the deafening scream of the warning siren blasted through the camp.

"HIND INBOUND!" Humphrey shouted as four Mi-35 Hinds burst over the tree tops. And if that wasn't bad enough, artillery started to fall.

****Authors note- I hope you guys enjoyed the story. The rest of the chapters will be a lot more exciting I promise, this was mostly just an introduction. Anyway, I hope you liked it. PLease R&R, me love you long time :D... not really haha but I do appreciate it****


	3. Day 1: 1300 Hours

**Day 1: 1300 Hours**

"GET THOSE S.A.M.'S UP AND RUNNING NOW," Winston barked.

"S.A.M.'s are a no go sir, guidance systems are being scrambled," Hutch replied slamming on the monitor of his computer.

"Damnit, First Sergeant, get out there and use whatever launchers you can find to take out those Hind's," Winston ordered. Hutch stood and nodded but as he headed for the door the entire coumpound shook and a loud blast rang their ears. The ground shook under them causing Hutch to stumble and fall to the ground.

"What the HELL was that," Hutch asked as the bulding continued to shake. Winston growled and ran over to help Hutch up.

"Bastards are using Artillery on us," Winston walked over and grabbed the microphone that was linked to the speakers set up around the camp.

"Everyone get outside of the compund, and into the forrest, grab what supplies you can and go. Save what vehicles you can. just get out of here before you get blown to bits," Winston shouted over the mic.

"Sir what's going on," Kate asked as she rushed into the room. Winston looked at his daughter and for once, looked somewhat worried.

"Russians launched a surprise attack, we've got Hind's and artillery hitting us hard. Hutch, make sure Kate is safe," Winston ordered.

"Dad no what about you," Kate asked worriedly.

"I've got to make sure everyone gets out, now go, that's an order," Winston said half-heartedly. Kate rushed over and wrapped her arms around Winston.

"Be safe dad," she whispered to him. He returned her hug and then looked her in the eyes.

"Go, I'll be right behind you," Winston said reassuringly. And for once, he actually smiled.

*Meanwhile*

"Come on into the woods GO," Candu screamed as he pushed everyone to the cover of the trees. Humphrey and his squad, along with the company of Garth, managed to push their way into the forrest. They ducked down behind several fallen Redwoods and listened to the exploding artillery and chaingun fire from the Hinds.

"What the hell man, just what the hell," Saltey said shaking his head, his voice trembling heavily.

"Man this is some major bullshit," Garth sighed.

"There's got to be something we can do to help out," Mooch said trying to hatch up a plan. Just like that a light bulb went off over Humphreys head.

"Garth, did you grab any ammo for your MacMaillan before you met up with us," Humphrey asked hurriedly. Garth reached into his ruck-sack and pulled out four, five round magazines for his rifle. Garth caught wind of Humphreys plan and smiled.

"I get ya, Raufoss rounds gonig hot," he said putting a magazine into his rifle. He loaded a round into the chamber and rested the weapon onto one of the fallen trees. "Alright you little communist pieces of shit, get ready for a BIG MAC ATTACK,"

Garth laughed hysterically but the others just shook their heads in disgust. Not even a second later, he pulled the trigger, sending a deafening blast through the woods and also, a deadly bullet down range. The large piece of lead spun towards the closest Hind, hardly even being affected by the leaves and twigs. The round impacted under the rotors, right where the engine was. It exploded, melting through the metal armor of the helicopter, then sending a tungsten carbide penetrator, straight through to the engine.

By the time Garth had ejected the spent cartridge and loaded a new one the Hind erupted into a ball of fire. The fuel inside, ignited by the sparks, and the engine filled with shrapnell, it had nowhere to go but down. They heard cheers ring all around them as it crashed to the ground and burned.

"HELL YEAH," Garth shouted enthusiastically as he aimed down another helicopter and sent it to the ground just as easily. Over the sounds of the chaos Humphrey could hear the bushes rustle, and the approach of someone.

"Hold your fire friendlies comming in," he ordered. Garth, half-way through reloading another round, left the bolt of his rifle open to prevent a misfire and pulled it from his shoulder to show he wasn't going to shoot. There was more rustling, before Kate and Hutch finally came crashing through the bushes. They were panting heavily, but seemed alright.

"Nice job taking out that chopper," Hutch complimented as he tried to catch his breath. Garth, being the ego-maniac that he was, took the compliment straight to his head and let out a proud smile.

"All in a days work," he said with moxy. He handed Kate his canteen which she gladly accepted taking a quick drink and offering it to Hutch who shook his head and grabbed his own. after taking a few minutes to catch their breath they started to look over what had just happened.

"Bastards hit us with artillery, that means they've got batteries set up somwhere. They've invaded so quickly command hasn't been able to send out the distress signal," Kate said rubbing the sweat from her forehead.

"I'll bet that was just the tip of the iceberg, ground units are likely to move in any second," Hutch added.

"Then we should try and link up with the other survivors, we'd have a better chance of counter-attacking," Humphrey suggested.

"Shut up," Hutch ordered suddenly. His head shot left and they all fell silent. Bushes started rustling, and voices started to become audible.

"Shit, they're moving in," Kate growled. Hutch instantly grabbed for his personal weapon. A custom designed Colt M1911 with an extended magazine that he had built himself.

"No one make a sound," he barked. He loaded a round into the chamber and screwed on a suppresor. The rustling started to grow closer to them, and the voices got louder. Hutch peered around a tree to a small running trail to see a small platoon of troops closing in on them. Hutch scanned them carefully, taking in every piece of equpiment they carried.

'AK-47's, grenades, RPG's, mortar rounds, pistols, mines,' he told himself. They grew closer, watching around for any survivors. Hutch gripped his pistol tightly in his hands and flipped off the safety.

"Someone get my back," he whispered. Garth started to get up but Devin stopped him. Devin reached into his pack and pulled out his own weapon. The Kriss Vector, also with an extended magazine, but also with a red dot sight, flashlight, itegral suppresor, and extra magazines in the stock.

"Gotcha," he replied quietly jumping behind Hutch. The two prepared for the brawl, but before they even had a chance to raise their weapons, the unexpected happened. A hail-storm of bullets flew in from behid them, mowing the enemy troops down to size. Before they could even get turned around Winston popped a new magazine into his AR-15 and finished them off.

"Colonel," Hutch said in shock as Winston walked over to them.

"Dad," Kate cried happily as she rushed to him and hugged him. He hugged her back and looked to the others.

"Get back to the armory and grab what ammo you can now, Delta company has them suppressed for now, GO," he ordered. They did as they were told and rushed to get to the armory. At the edge of the base they could hear machine guns firing, grenades exploding, and screams of pain. They ignored it all to grab what they needed. Humphrey tosses Shakey and Saltey a pair of AR-15's before grabbing one for himself. Mooch grabbed the last M249 and what magazines he could find for it.

Garth dug through the cases of ammunition for some more .50 caliber shells, finding only a handful left. He cursed and grabbed a pistol, which he hated using. As they dug they heard Hinds fly by and do strafe runs on their units. One rocket thuded right beside the building causing it to shake violently. That was their signal to get out.

The machine gun fire stopped the second they walked out, and they all started for the forrest, except for Winston. Kate noticed her father's absence and turned to him, wide-eyed.

"Dad come on," she begged. Winston shook his head and turned away from her.

"I have to stay here Kate, they need me on the front lines," tears filled her eyes and she wrapped her arms around him. Winston sighed and returned her hug. He looked up, trying to keep his tears from bing noticed and saw something that he reacted to almost instimctively. He picked Kate up and spun them around, much to her surprise, but his pained grunt took the surprise away.

"DAD," she screamed. Devin noticed the same flash, and reacted quickly, drawing his Vector into his shoulder and shooting at the glint until his weapon clicked empty. Kate pulled away from her hug and looked at Winston, who had blood pouring from his muzzle. She layed him on the ground gently and tore off his kevlar vest.

"Oh no," she saighed choking back the urge to cry even harder. His chest was covered in blood, and there was an open hole leading right past his heart. Winston grunted and cringed in pain as blood poured from his wound.

"Kate," he whispered softly.

"I'm here daddy," she cried leaning in close so he didn't have to strain to talk.

"Tell, Lilly, and your mother, that... I, l-love, the-," his eyes closed slowly, and he breathed one last time, but it wasn't enough to keep his heart going. It shut down, and he died with Kate huntching over him crying her eyes out. The other were in complete disbelief. The colonel had just gave his life to save his daughter. Hutch was the first to be able to react. He rushed over and had to pry Kate from Winston's body.

They had no other choice but to leave his body. As much as Kate protested they were foreced to do it. It would take too long, and they were practically out of time. As they retreated back to the woods, Humphrey hatched one of the stupidest, yet boldest things he had ever thought of. Risking life and limb he ran back to Winston and grabbed his Smith and Wesson .44 magnum for Kate.

As he grabbed the pistol a bullet bounced off of the ground only inches from him and he turned tail and darted back to the safety of the trees. As he grew closer to the trail they had used earlier, he noticed Garth had propped up his rifle again and began providing cover for him. He was almost in the protection of the woods, when he felt a sharp stinging in his right leg. He fell in pain, and just knew it was all over for him

**** Authors Note- Sorry the update took so long I've had a really bad case of writers block****


	4. Day 1: 1500 Hours

**Day 1: 1500 Hours**

It had been a mere two hours since the attack on the Canadian outpost, and things were already looking grim. The small group of survivors remained huddled in a dense thicket of brush as they awaited for some kind of orders to come in over their radios, but they heard only silence. Kate was still sobbing over her fathers death, and held the pistol Humphrey had retrieved dearly by her heart. Inscribed on both sides were the names Kate, Lilly, and Eve written in solid gold.

Humphrey felt quite triumphant in his heroic deed. He wanted to sit by her side and confort her, but he knew this was too sensative of a subject for him to deal with. And with the oposing forces closing in on them, he had no choice but to stay on guard. He, Saltey, Shakey, Mooch, and Devin sat together, away from the others and talked between themselves as Garth watched around on his scope for movement.

Kate wasn't the only one who had taken Winstons death closely. Hutch also mourned to himself. He hid from the others behind a large pine tree looking down at the pistol he had been carrying when Winston was shot. He pulled the magazine out and stared blankly at the seven rounds inside. He felt like he had just lost the closest thing he had to a father figure, and not only that, but a deep sense of failure loomed over him. It felt like it was all his falt that Kate had lost her dad, and the fact that Lilly and Eve weren't there made it all the worse.

"I got movement, 100 meters ahead," Garth called out suddenly. Hutch instantly threw the magazin back into the firearm and grabbed his primary weapon. He twirled around the trunk of the tree to use it for cover and grit his teeth as the bushes rustled. Humphrey and his squad also took up defensive positions and readied themselves to fire. Kate managed the strength to grab her rifle as well and clear the tears from her eyes so she could shoot.

"How many," Hutch barked over the silence.

"Looks like, wait five? Why would they just send five," Garth questioned. Hutch lowered his weapon curiously.

"Are you sure there aren't more," Hutch asked.

"Ye-yeah I'm positive, that's all," Garth said in slight confusion.

"Jesus christ, for the love of god don't shoot us," called an unfamiliar voice. The accent sounded more American than anything else. They all lowered their weapons as five American soldiers broke through the bushes dressed in full combat gear. One of which, was female, and shrieked with excitement when she saw Kate.

"OMIGOSH KATE," Lilly screamed as she ran over to her sister and threw her arms around her. Kate was completely stunned by her sisters appearance but managed to return her hug. The other four were a bit more fierce looking than the shrill and funloving lilly. Two of them had silver fur and matched each others appearance exactly, the third had white fur with red striping all around his body, and the third had all black fur and was clearly the leader.

"My god you guys look like you've been through hell," on of the silver furred ones blurted out but was elbowed by the other.

"Haze shut up," he barked.

"Who are you," Hutch asked interrupting the ensuing argument.

"They're American special forces," Kate said as she pulled herself away from Lilly.

"Delta Force to be exact, there are American units placed all around Canada. We were sent here just in case the Russians pulled something like this, and so we're here to help you guys out," the dark on said confidently. "I'm Midnight, this is my brother Richoh, and those two are the twins Byron and Haze," he continued as he introduced the others.

"Are you all that we have," Hutch asked in disbelief.

"Well, not exactly, our combat expert Blackjack had some problems parachuting in, and we think he got captured. We're going to go get him back," Midnight said. No one could object considering this was their only form of assistance, and possibly there only chance to get out alive.

"A little FYI, most of your unit has already been wiped out. Those that managed to flee into the forrest are going to be caught, and if they aren't shot on site, they'll be shipped of to prison camps. Your base is being converted into one right now, and they'll be putting the first wave of prisoners there. That's where we'll pick Blackjack up," Midnight said with a sinister smile.

"Wait you said we were gonig to rescue him, now we're picking him up," Hutch asked suspiciously. The twins smiled and nodded to him.

"You haven't seen him fight yet,"

The march back to the outskirts of the base was tiring. The group had justworked their way into the woods and now they were having to march back out. It was the worst on Garth and Mooch who were packing the heaviest firepower and were practically rolling in sweat. Thet were starting to regret their gross over-armament but they would just have to get over it.

Kate explained what had happened to Winston to Lilly who wanted to start balling her eyes out, but kept her composure, for now. Aside from that, no one said much. Hutch walked alongside the American team and tried to get some more information out of them, but they were reluctant to tell him much.

When they made it back to the very edge of the ruined outpost they were shocked to find the mercenaries busy setting up fences, guard towers, and barracks. T-90's, BTR's, and BMP's were parked together near what was bound to become a rearming and refueling station. In the center of all the chaos was a wolf with jet black fur with a white streak going down his chin, surrounded by four executionors, one on each side. His hands were bound behind his back and he was completely unarmed, but he didn't show fear.

"We have to help him," Humphrey said as he tried to raise his carbine, but Ricoh stopped him.

"No, you'll only get him killed. Just get ready to watch the fireworks," Ricoh said quietly. Humphrey and the others stirred uneasily, with the exception of the American team, as Blackjack was pushed to his knees and one of the mercs pulled a pistol from its holster and started speaking in Russian. He pressed the barrel to Blackjacks head and started to pull the trigger. BANG!

In a flash Blackjack ducked his head and thebullet whizzed down his back and split the ropes that bound his hands together. With his hands free he quickly unfastened the knife on his boot with one and grabbed the knife of his executionor with the other. He lashed upward, slicing open the foes throat as the second rushed him from behind. But he had prepared for that, he sent his leg in an backwards kick, which freed the knife from its sheath and into the throat of his rear attacker.

From the left and right the last two tried to rush him but their attempts were futile. Blackjack whirled around the right rusher and grabbed the exposed pistol that lay in its holster. Before the Russian had a chance to turn her raised the weapon and pulled the trigger, sending a round through both of their heads. But he wasn't done yet. As the two fell to the ground he grabbed a spare magazine for one of their AK-47's and flung it towards the fuel depot. As it fell he shot it with the pistol, causing the rounds inside the magazine to explode cataclysmically, and ignite the fuel tanks.

In mere seconds Blackjack had not only freed himself, but sent the entire camp up in flames. The guards were sent into chaos as the fire spread across the camp, allowing Blackjack the oppurtinity to casually walk out of the unfinished fence unnoticed. He looked at the pistol he held as if it were filthy and tossed it back into the compound and wiped his gloved hands onto his pants.

"Not too shabby Blackjack, but I'm going to deduct points for not retrieving your knife," Midnight said as he patted Blackjack on the shoulder. Blackjack smirked and held up the blood covered knife.

"Oh didn't I," he said sarcastically. Midnight smiled and nodded.

"Touche," he said with a shrug. All of their jaws were on the ground. They could have never dreamed about doing something like that. They might have been in trouble at first, but the tables were quickly turning.


	5. Day 1: 1900 Hours Day 2: 0200 Hours

**Day 1: 1900 Hours**

Night quickly fell on the exhausted group. They had been through so much in just one day, none of them thought that so much could go in the course of 24 hours. Especially with the encounter of the new reinforcements. As moon began to rise the group began to set up a small camp in a dense patch of trees. As they waited for the darkness to enve;op them, they decided to find out a little bit more about their new companions. In particualr, Blackjack.

"Where did you learn to fight like that," Humphrey asked in awe.

"The real question should be where didn't I learn to fight. Before I joined the military I traveled the world learning just about every single martial art on the planet. I inherited my parents wealth so traveling abroad wasn't a problem. I went to Japan where I learned everything from Aikido to Jui-jitsu. Thailand, South America, Africa you name a country I've been there. But by far my favorite trip was to Israel, where I learned most of my Krav-mgaw," he replied as he pulled a small brown package from his backpack, which he recovered from a smoldering shed.

"I gotta say I've seen a lot of kung-fu movies, but that beat them all. Especially when you blew up the fuel tanks," Mooch commented. Blackjack smilled and even laughed as he opened his M.R.E.

"I will admit that part was just luck, if that first shot would have missed I would have emptied that pistol into those fuel tanks," he laughed as he examined the meal. "Nice, chicken quesidillas." he said with excitement as he readied his meal.

"I'm a little curious about something, how did you guys meet Lilly," Kate asked, finally calming down after the earlier events.

"Well, we actually met when she first came in to the recruitment center. Most of the guys just kinda laughed at her, so we took her in as if she was our little sister," Midnight explained as he roughly rubbed her head playfully causing her to giggle.

"I don't know what I would've done withought these guys," she laughed as she uselessly tried to fend off Midnight's ensuing noogie.

"She's told us a lot about you guys, whenever we would go out on overnight excercises she'd keep us entertained with these great stories," Ricoh laughed. After a few more minutes of conversation they finished their dinner and stowed away into their tents to rest up after their long day. But only most of them, would sleep soundly.

**Day 2: 0200 Hours**

Humphrey practically jolted awake in his tent. He had been through enough of a struggle trying to get to sleep in the first place he should have been expecting it. All he could think about was Blackjack's display of strength. It made him wish that he could impress Kate that way, that easily. He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes as he let out a wide yawn.

He got up and left his tent to get some fresh air, finding everyon else asleep. He looked over to see Kate snoozing away happily. He sighed and shook his head as he walked away from the camp so he wouldn't disturb anyone. He blindly sat down on a fallen tree and placed his hands on his forehead. Little did he know, he was not alone.

"Good morning Humphrey, what's bothering you," Ricoh asked. Humphrey jumped out of his skin, completely unexpectant of his companions apperance.

"Jesus Ricoh you scared me to death," Humphrey said startled. Ricoh laughed and placed his finger over his mouth.

"Shh, you'll wake the others. But sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, now back to my original question, what's bothering you," he repeated. Humphrey sighed and sat back straight.

"Well, you see, I really like Kate, but she doesn't like me back, and, I just wished that I could be like Blackjack, then maybe she would notice me," he explained with a small tear in his eye. Ricoh didn't seem to be surprised, in fact he nodded as if he were expecting.

"Humphrey, there's a lot you don't know about Blackjack. You probably think that he signed up just to be a complete bad-ass don't you," Humphrey blushed and shamefully nodded his head. "Well, it's not like that. I've known him for almost five years now, and believe me, he's nothing but a big teddy bear, unless of course you piss him off. Anyway, Blackjack had been alone for most of his life,"

"I can tell the rest Ricoh, you should get some sleep," the two were startled by Blackjack himself, who acted as though he was wide awike. Ricoh nodded and returned to his tent, freeing a seat for Blackjack.

"Humphrey, it's no secret that you love Kate, but you don't need to be like me to impress her, in fact, you don't want to be like me at all," Blackjack said sending Humphrey into a wave of embarassment.

"But, what you did back there was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. I just thought that, maybe if I could do it to, Kate would like me," Humphrey said as small tears swelled into his eyes. Blackjack sighd and placed his hand onto Humphreys shoulder.

"Let me tell you a little story,"

***Blackjacks words***

_Many years ago, there was a little boy, who was a lot like you. I know that sounds a little corny, but it's true. He idolized his father, and always wanted to impress everyone. He was madly in love with his long time best friend who lived a coupld of houses away, and would walk her home every single day from school. Of course, he would never actually admit that he liked her, it was his secret to stay. His parents always bought him what he wanted for ever holiday and birthday that passed. But they never gave him what he truely wanted. _

_ He always wanted to be able to impress others. For once, he wanted them to look upon him, to think of him as an idol, as a role model, as a friend. He asked them many times to let him join a sport. Karate, football, basketball, baseball, soccer, wrestling, you name it he wanted to try it. But his parents, were too strict. They didn't want anything to happen to their little boy, and so time and time again, he was denied._

_ The thing was, he never let the word no get him down. He always kept a high chin no matter what happened. To him, there was always a bright side to any situation. Unfortunately, this also made it all the easier on his parents to tell him no. Then one day, when he was turning fourteen, his parents allowed him to invite his only friend over. The girl who lived just down the street. _

_ She wanted to surprise him with her appearance, so she managed to slip out of school early and race to his house where she eagerly awaited his arrival. He was caught back by a teacher who was commending him for his excelent work on a class project, and was a few minutes late leaving. As he left, he cheerfully walked home, despite the fact that it was starting to rain. _

_ When he got home, his life changed forever. The door was wide open, nearly knocked off of the hinges. He rushed inside and started to scream for his parents, until he saw both of them, dead on the kitchen floor, blood covering the walls. Two twelve gauge shotgun shells layed empty on the floor, their contents buried into the skulls of his parents. _

_ The next thing that he thought of was his friend, he was concerned for her. HE sprinted into the living room to find her cowering in a corner as two masked burglars held her at gunpoint. Throwing caution to the wind he threw himself in front of the barrel of the weapon. _

_ "BACK OFF," he shouted as loud as he possibly could. The two men saw his act of courage and simply laughed. The man who was holding the gun lowered it and grabbed the boy by the collar and threw him across the room, sending him crashing through the table. Before he could move a single muscle the other pinned him ti the ground. With no thoughts for mercy at all the made him watch as they beat, and then raped the girl. Despite his struggles, he had no chance of breaking free. _

_ When they were done they shot her in the chest with the gun, ending her life tradgically early. They were preparing to do the same to him, but he had suffered enough. There would be no more, he would make the two assailants pay for what they had done. He snapped, and printed them a one way ticket to hell, the price of admition, their lives. _

_ It was as if all of his anger, his hatred, and his sorrow combined within him to form pure strength. With a single burst he threw the man pinning him to the ceiling, smashing the ceiling fan around his back. The boy rolled under the barrel of the shotgun and sprang upwrads, sending the shotgun aiming upwards right as the trigger was pulled, sending a hail of buckshot into the unarmed burglar. _

_ The force of the jump was so great if proceeded to knock the gun from the murderers hands and it fell to the floor. Fortunately for the boy, the shotgun was a semi-automatic, and automatically loaded a new shell. as the stock of the gun hit the ground the sheer kinetic energy released the firing pin, blowing the purps brain all over the place. _

_ When the massacre was finished the boy collected the three shells that had killed his loved ones, and cried. The girl he had loved he kissed gently on the forehead, and hugged his parents. It was over an hour before he managed the strength to call the police, who rushed to the house. Paramedics arrived shortly after, they announced everyone at the scene dead. _

_ After that the boy never saw another happy day in his life. He was sent off to life with his aunt for four years, and each one of them worse than the last. His depression crept up on his life a flesh eating virus that consumed his whole body. Once he turned 18 he collected the money his parents left him in their wills, and left. From then on he traveled the world for four years, but he never found a comfortable place to live. He could never escape his past. He had lost everything, on his very own birthday._

***Back to reality***

Blackjack reached into the collar of his shirt and uncovered a necklace that was strung through three 12 gauge shotgun shells, the brass on each was begining to rust, and the color was fading from the casings.

"That boy was me Humphrey," Blackjack said. His voice was filled with pain and sorrow, but he didn't shed a single tear. Humphrey was practically speechless, he never thought that anything as bad as that could happen to anyone.

"My god, that's horrible. I-I'm sorry," Humphrey gasped lightly. Blackjack smiled slightly and shook his head.

"I'm not dead yet, and what doesn't kill me makes me stronger. That day may have been the worst in my life, but it brought me to these people that I consider my family. I learned to never take things fpr granted. Plus, I, I met my future wife," Blackjack said looking back at Lilly's tent. Humphrey's eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped.

"You and Lilly are engaged," Humphrey asked semi-loudly.

"As of three days ago, yes. We haven't told anyone yet though, we we're going to wait until friday, because that will mark the day that our group has been together for two years," Blackjack whispered as he pulled a diamond ring from his pocket and smiled at it.

"Well, not to be rude, but what does any of that have to do with me," Humphrey asked with a small blush. Blackjack let out a slight laugh and looked Humphrey square in the eyes.

"The story has a moral, the moral is never lose hope. As quoted by a character in one of the greatest books ever written 'Hope is a good thing, maybe even the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.'"

****Authors note: Sorry this chapter took so long to update, my internet went out and I haven't been able to do anything at all. Anyway hope you're enjoying the story so far. In case you didn't know the quote Blackjack uses is from 'The Shawshank Redemption,' written by Stephen King. It is a really good book, and movie, Morgan Freeman plays 'Red'. Well anyway before I start rambling it would be nice if you would take just a minute of your time to write a small review to let me know how I'm doing. It doesn't have to be much even a smiley face will be accepted. See you guys later, ReaperHunter000 signing off.**


	6. Day 2: 0700 Hours

**Day 2: 0700 Hours**

Humphrey was completely appauled by what Blackjack had told him. Just by looking at him Humphrey would never have guessed that something like that would have happened to him as a kid. Blackjack's mild temperment played a role in that Humphrey supposed. The other thing that got to him was Blackjack and Lilly being together. Humphrey wouldn't admit it, but he was kind of jealous. Not so much of them being together, but the fact that they hadn't known each other nearly as long as he had known Kate, and they were already engaged.

The sun began to rise on the second day of the ordeal, and it brought with it, the work of packing up their gear. To their surprise, Humphrey was the first one to finish, aside from Blackjack, who had been awake since his discussion with Humphrey. None of them could tell what it was, but Humphrey had a certain moral boost that had him working harder than before. But they didn't have time to think, they were already starting to move out.

"So what's the gameplan," Garth asked enthusiastically.

"Easy son you'll give us all diabetes," Blackjack joked, causing the others to laugh.

"Well, yesterday when the initial attack occured we reported it to base command, who immediately started mobilizing armored regiments to the south and setting up outposts. We're going to link up with one of the outposts and help with the oush north," Midnight answered as he slung his ruck sack onto his back.

"Someone please tell me we have an idea of which direction to walk," Mooch groaned. Ricoh laughed and shook his head.

"I wouldn't worry about that too much big guy, as long as we find a good sized clearing I can call us in an extraction vehicle," Ricoh said as he gave Mooch a pat on the back.

"Hey, I think there's an old artillery field near here, think that would work," Kate asked hopefully.

"Probably, I mean, I don't see why it wouldn't. As long as we can get there without drawing too much attention to ourselves," Ricoh replied as he straooed his radio pack to himself. After a couple more minutes of packing their gear and collecting their bearings, the group set out for the artillery range. It was about three miles east of where they were, which was easier to walk than the twenty it would have taken to get to the nearest American outpost.

Thankfully for them the path leading to the outpost was overgrown enough to keep tanks from penetrating it, but not too thick to keep them off of it. They made idle chatter with each other along the way, just trying to pass the time, except for Ricoh who was busy calling in a helicopter pickup. The only problem with the conversations, Humphrey found, was trying to keep Blackjacks story to himself.

He knew Blackjack wouldn't want him to be telling everyone that his family and best friend were murdered on his brithday, but he felt like his friends deserved to know. It wasn't like him to keep secrets from them, and they could tell when he was hiding something. He tried to keep his mind on other things, like Kate.

"Humphrey, what's up," Saltey asked stepping up beside up him. Humphrey guled and then acted like he didn't know what Saltey was talking about.

"Oh nothing, just a lot happened yesterday, you know," Humphrey tried to seem sincere, but Saltey didn't buy it.

"Humphrey, you're the worst lier ever, now come on tell old Saltey whats bothering you," Humphrey bit his lip but shook his head.

"It's something that new guy Blackjack told me last night. It really got to me," Humphrey replied uneasily.

"Well what is it, I'm sure it can't be that bad," Just about the time Slatey finished, Byron and Haze fell back to jump into the conversation.

"Trust me Saltey, you don't want to know," Byron said.

"It's not exactly something that he tells to everyone," Haze continued.

"It took him three months before he even told any of us,"

"The fact that he told Humphrey after only knowing him for a day means he either really trusts you, or he really wants to help you,"

"Is it really that bad," Saltey asked in disbelief.

"Well, let's just say he's only told us and Ricoh, not even Midnight or Lilly know yet," Byron replied. Humphrey's eyes widened as he remembered that Blackjack and Lilly were engaged, and the fact that he hadn't told her the worst event in his life, was really shocking.

"Sounds like he's had it pretty rough," Saltey said as he slowly looked away.

"Worse than what you would expect given how friendly he is," whispered Haze as he pointed to Blackjack who was playfully handing Lilly a small flower he had found.

"Well guys I've got some good news and some bad news," Ricoh said interrupting the conversation, "The good news is we have an evac, the bad news is the artillery field is in dead sight for the Russian guns. In other words the second they see that chopper on RADAR you can guarentee that tey'll have shells comming out way," Ricoh finished grimly.

"We could try an airstrike," Haze suggested.

"Too easy, they'd be shot down by a SAM before they knew what hit them," Blackjack shot back.

"What about a UAV," Byron suggested. Midnight thought for a second and then nodded.

"Good idea, their missiles wouldn't be able to reach a Reaper drone at the maximum ceiling. With the drone shooting back range doesn't matter, the missile's comming so even if it ran out of fuel it would still knock them out. Ricoh, see if you can get us a drone to soften them up a bit," Midnight said with a sadistic smile.

"Gotcha,"

The rest of the walk was filled with silence. Everyone was too nervous to say anything. They didn't know how far the enemy had penetrated into the forrest, for all they knew they could run across a huge patrol of enemy scouts and get mowed down. Even worse than that was the thought of running across a tank. Pitty rifles would be no match for the thick composite armor of a T-90, not even Garth's .50 caliber sniper rifle would stand a chance against a tank.

They found their way to the lightened forrestry arround a long field that seend to stretch on forever. It was littered with blast craters and scorched Earth, dead vehicles that had been left to rust, and the shrapnel of thousands of artillery rounds. It was hard to believe that on this seemingly endless plain a gun could still hit them.

"Now we wait," Midnight said softly, just in case their were a few forward observers. They all sat down and just tried to pass the time. Humphrey noticed that Blackjack and Lilly had partially excluded themselves, and were holding hands. Something about seeing that just made him feel, alone. Almost 20 minutes had passed before they heard the sign of relief they were hoping for. The spinning of rotors on a helicopter. It grew louder and louder, but also heavier and deeper. Finally, their air support burst over the tree tops and rvealed themselves, right about the time several loud explosions rang through the valley.

Before them were three helicopters in all. Two, were AH-64 Apache Longbows, armed to the teeth and ready to kill. The other was the behemoth of the group. A Sikorsky CH-53 Super Stallion. It was the largest helicopter in the entire western hemisphere. Seven rotors, capable of carrying 30,000 pounds of cargo. The massive vehicle dwarfed the two attack helicopters, and made the group look like ants.

"Think they over did it," Hutch asked sarcastically.

"Probably not look," Ricoh shouted and pointed down thee field, where an entire battallion of Russian mercenaries and at least four armored divisions were moving in. Almost instantly a hail of bullets slammed into the trees around the group, who all ducked down to avoid being hit. The Apaches sprung into action and unleashed hell onto the oncomming troops, but they only had so much ammo. Midnight looked up to see Super Stallion in position to pick them up and he looked at the group intensely.

"Mooch, Haze, and Blackjack lay down some supressing fire, everyone else to the chopper," Midnight shouted. Everyone was hesitant at first, until Midnight darted alone to the helicopter, then they joined in. Haze and Blackjack both jumped into action, pulling out Steyr AUG's with extended barrels and extended magazines. Mooch tried to get up, but whenever he would try a bullet would fly by his head and slam into a tree and he would duck back down.

"What's the matter with you, come one get up," Haze barked. Mooch started to but yet another bullet bounced beside of him and he started to tear up.

"I didn't sign up for this man," he cried. Blackjack knealt beside of him and looked into his tear filled eyes.

"Listen to me, you will be alright, go for the chopper, I have you covered," Blackjack said calmly. Mooch was shocked at how calm Blackjack was being and he wiped the tears from his face. Blackjack made the encrouaging notion to put in a fresh magazine and pat him on the shoulder, don't worry, you'll make it.

Mooch nodded and took a deep breath. He jumped over the bushes and sprinted towards the helicopter. He heard Blackjack right behing him, not letting off of his triger for a single second. The relief he felt when his feet hit the metal cargo ramp was umbelievable, he wanted to sit down in the first seat he could, but he rushed to the front of the cargo bay and joined the others. He turned around to see Blackjack stepping on board and just as Haze's foot stepped on the ramp, he jerked and hit the ground. At that moment everything began to slow down.

Haze fell to the ground slowly, and Blackjack who had a smile on his face, frowned and turned. He was just as shocked as mooch was. Before Mooch could even react Blackjack ran back and pulled Haze on board. Mooch couldn't move, he was paralyzed by fear. Midnight pushed his way past him and helped Blackjack pull him towards the front of the helicopter as they began to take off.

"Canadian forces we welcome you aboard Wolvering 3-1, emergency exits are located anywhere you can get your ass off of the helicopter, and there are two .50 caliber machine guns in the front for your enjoyment. So just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride," one of the pilots laughed at them. They started to laugh, until they say Blackjack and Midnight pulling Haze aboard. Suddenly, even the roar of the helicopters rotors, was dead silent.


	7. Day 2: 0900 Hours

**Day 2: 0900 Hours**

"MAN DOWN, MAN DOWN, RICOH GET OVER HERE," Midnight shouted as he and Blackjack pulled Haze up through the body of the helicopter. Ricoh jumped from his seat and moved to greet them halfway up the isle, immediately throwing off Haze's bullet proof vest to check for penetration. They all fell into complete shock watching this all unfold, it didn't seem possible that one of their friends could take a hit.

"Haze, Haze can you hear me," Ricoh asked calmly as he didn't see any entry wounds on Haze's chest. A second passed before Haze started coughing and gasping for breath, much to Byron's relief.

"The fuck happened," Haze asked gripping his chest in pain.

"You got hit," Byron said as he pulled his brother into a hug.

"No fucking way man, the bullet went through your plate, and the kevlar, but your iPod stopped it," Ricoh laughed as he pulled a completely shattered iPod from Haze's vest.

"NOOOO MY METALLICA," Haze cried in agony causing them all to break out in a laughter of relief, except for Byron, who was furious at poor Mooch.

"What the hell is your problem why the fuck didn't you shoot back," Byron shouted as he shoved Mooch.

"I-I-" Mooch tried to explain but couldn't admit that he was too afraid.

"What you were to scared?! You're telling me your a soldier and you're too scared to shoot back at someone trying to kill you?! That magazine might as well be filled with nothing but blanks, no I take that back at least they would think you were shooting at them," Byron was immediately silenced by Midnight who threw hit hand over Byron's mouth and started to give him his own personal chew out session, while Blackjack, along with Humphrey and his friends, came down to check on Mooch.

"Mooch don't let Byron get to you, he's not as understanding as everyone else is," Blackjack whispered trying to calm Mooch down, who was on the verge of crying.

"But he's right, I should have been able to shoot back, I'm nothing but a coward," Mooch said as he depressively slumped down into a seat.

"Mooch, you had every right to be afraid, that was your first firefight. The same thing happened to me during my first shootout too,"Blackjack said giving Mooch a comforting pat on the back. Mooch looked up in shock as tears poured down his face.

"Really," he asked as he wiped tears off of his face.

"Yeah, in fact, why not I tell you a little story,"

_**Blackjack's words**_

_ It was maybe six years ago. I hadn't been in for more than a year when we were first shipped out to Afghanistan. Actually it hadn't been more than a few months after we picked up Lilly as our new recruit. It was around six in the morning when we were called out and loaded into the back of an AC-130. It was one of the longest plain rides I had ever taken. _

_ See the good part about being special forces is you won't really see much combat unless you are drastically needed. But when you are called for, you knwo that things are going to be bad. Our unit was first called out to assist a group of Marines who's convoy was ambushed. We were told to go in and provide some backup so they could get out._

_ Well, when we got there the situation had become severe and we were under the threat of being overrun, the Marines had already been pushed back into an apartment buuilding. So we set up positions. Haze and Byron set up on the roof of a bulding as a sniper team, Midnight collaborated with the Marine leader to formulate a plan, Ricoh helped tend to the wounded, and me and Lilly were put on the bottom of the building to act as a frontline of defense. _

_ A few minutes passed and it seemed like nothing really happened. Then, they pushed forward. Before me and Lilly knew it they were rushing in quickly and bullets were flying all over the place. They were whizzing past us and landing near us, it was honestly terrifying. Everytime I would start to peek around the wall and shoot it seemed like even more shots would come my way. Even if they didn't hit near me I would still jump back in fear. I was afraid to shoot back. But, sometimes life has a way of motivating you. _

_ I looked over to check on Lilly and saw that she was completely pinned down, and the rounds were wearing down her cover. Seeing that took me back to something horrible that happened in my life, and I wouldn't let it happen again. At the time of this I had an M249, just like the one you have there, and without even thinking spun around the wall I was hiding behind and pulled the trigger. I never let go of it. Even once my magazine ran out I was so high on adrenaline that I couldn't stop. I reloaded and rushed to the smoldering remaines of a car that was outside of the building and started shooting again. _

_ Eventually we managed to fend off the attackers just as a few helicopters showed up to pick us up. I had shot so many rounds that I completely melted two barrels, and wound up fusing the bolt to the upper chamber, rednering the gun useless. As I sat down in one of the Black-hawks someone Midnight looked at me and said, "Blackjack sit down, you've been shot." I just laughed at him and said "What are you talking about I feel fine." I looked down to prove him wrong, and he was right. My vest was completely shreded, and not a single bullet got to me. _

**3rd Person view**

"Moral of the story, find a reason to fight back, find your motivation, and you'll be alright," Blackjack smiled at the awestruck group and let out a slight chuckle.

"If you think he's lying I have a pitcture to prove he's not," Lilly said as she sat beside Blackjack and pulled out a neatly folded photo from her pocket and handed it to Mooch. He unfolded it and his eyes widened as he looked at the picture. On it was a slightly younger looking Blackjack sitting in a tent with a kevlar vest at his side that was torn down nearly to the back piece of fabric.

"My god, do you know how many rounds hit you," Humphrey asked out of curiosity. Blackjack stared off in thought for a moment, and let out a thoughful hum.

"I think it was one hundred and eighty-six," he replied scratching his head. "At first I thought it was a miracle, and i still think it is, but I was told that somehow almost a full layer of synthetic diamonds wound up in my chest plate,"

"Wow, so all I have to do is find motivation and I can fight back," Mooch asked himself rhetorically. Blackjack started to nod his head but the pilots screamed in over the radio.

"SHIT RPG HOLD ON BACK THERE," they screamed as the helicopter banked heavily to the left, sending them all to the other side of the craft.

"FUCK MAN THOSE .50'S NOW," Midnight screamed at the top of his lungs as he rushed to the front of the vehicle and grabbed one of the M2 Browning .50 caliber machine guns and charged it. Haze, who wanted revenge for being shot, was right behind him, manning the one behind Midnight and charged it as well. Blackjack, after helping Lilly to a safe seat, ran to the tail gun, with Mooch right behind him.

"I GOT THIS ONE," Blackjack shouted over the hail of gunfure.

"THEN I'VE GOT YOUR BACK," Mooch shouted back as he cocked his M249. Blackjack smiled and nodded giving Mooch a quick pat on the shoulder before grabbing hold of his own machine gun.

"LAY IT ON 'EM BUDDY," Blackjack screamed as he layed it to the trigger, sending massive .50 caliber rounds towards the Russians below. Mooch looked up from the ground at the Apache escorts as they veered away from RPG's and shot back with cannaons and rockets. Mooch aimed down the sights of his machine gun and grit his teeth as he started to pull back on the trigger. Mooch jumped when he felt the first shudder of recoil against his shoulder as rounds fed through the gun.

Mooch smiled as he felt a surge of adrenaline course through his veins as bullets flew from the barrel and struck the ground. He couldn't tell if he was hitting anything but the ground, but he was trying. Blackjack howled in excitement as he swiveled the gun and continued to send a wall of lead out of the back of the helicopter. Hot shells fell to the loading ramp and the rolled out to litter the ground with brass. Unexpectedly a bad shell fed into Blackjacks gun and he was forced to eject it, right as a massive explosion rattled the ground beneath then.

"FRIENDLY ARMOR, HELL YES," Midnight shouted as they flew above dozens of American tanks and APC's.

"Wolverine 3-1 this is Hammer 2-2 glad you join the fight, mind giving us a little air support," someone asked over the radio.

"Copy that Hammer 2-2, Wolverines 3-2 and 3-3 hold back and proved air support for the tanks, we're heading back to base to pick up supplies and drop off the rescued Canadian forces," the pilots called.

"Roger that Wolverine lead, 3-3 let's smoke 'em," the Apache pilots replied.

The group pulled away from the raging fight and the sky finally fell into a calm silence. The only audible noise was the roar of the helicopters rotors, and the idle chatter over the radio. The group sat together and talked among one another, in which time Byron appologized for what he had said. Not to much later after that, they came to a landing, and couldn't have been more relieved.

"We realize that there are many options out there and we thank you for choosing Wolverine flight, not like you had much of a choice anyway," the pilots laughed as they stepped off and onto friendly grounds.

"Blackjack, I think we should tell them," Lilly whispered as she flicked her tail against his playfully. Blackjack smiled and but his lip.

"I might as well, seeing as you won't let off until I do," he giggled sticking his tongue out at her.


	8. Day 2: 1000 Hours

**Day 2: 1000 Hours**

A small greeting party rushed over and assisted the group, taking any gear that they didn't need and leading them to the one place that they were all excited to see. The mess hall.

"Oh sweet mother of all that is holy thank you," Haze cried as he filled his tray with all he could eat. Since it was still early there was still stuff for breakfast, eggs, bacon, pancakes, all sorts of different foods that made the entire mess smell like breakfast, and maple syrup.

"It's been so long since I've had a good meal," Blackjack said as he sat down at a table with the others.

"You had this same breakfast two days ago," Midnight said with a laugh.

"When you think about it thats a long time, that two days is 48 hours, which is 2,880 minutes, which is 172,800 seconds, which is-"

"Alright Ricoh I get it it's a long time," Midnight interrupted. They all laughed except for Humphrey who noticed Kate sitting at a table all by herself, making a poor attempt to eat.

"Humphrey, you should go talk to her," Blackjack whispered. Humphreys ears perked up and he looked at Blackjack like he had insulted him.

"Are you crazy," Humphrey asked almost a little loudly. Blackjack smiled and shook his head.

"The last time I checked they said I wasn't, and remember," Blackjack reached into his jacket and discretely pulled out the necklace with the shotgun shells on it, "it's better to take the chance than to never know."

Humphrey thought for a second then nodded reluctantly. He picked up his tray and walked over to the table Kate was sitting at, with his mind racing a million miles an hour. The walk couldn't have been any shorter, he wished that it would have been longer so that he could have time to figure out what to say.

"Mind if I sit with you," he asked nervously. Kate's ears perked up and she looked back to see him and semi-smiled.

"Go ahead," she said a little cheerfully, but the way she wasn't eating him told him she wasn't cheery.

"Why are you sitting down here by yourself," he asked. She sighed and shook her head.

"I don't know, I guess I'm just going through a lot," she replied half-heartedly. His heart fell into his stomach as he watched the depression creep over her. Humphrey didn't like to see her like this, he wished there was something he could do to make her feel better.

"I'm really sorry about what happened to your dad," he said. She just shook her head and sighed.

"It's fine, I mean, he knew the risks when he signed up I guess," she said as a small tear rolled down her cheek. Humphrey pulled off his glove and sweetly wiped away her tear, much to her surprise. She smiled and a slight blush shot across her cheecks, causing her to look away quickly to hide her expression.

"Thank you Humphrey," she said as another tear rolled down her cheek, which she wiped away on her own.

"Don't mention it," he said modestly. She turned to face him with a smile still bright on her face.

"Humphrey, you are such a sweet guy. I don't see how you can be so nice to me after I have been so mean to you," she said as she slowly leaned over and layed her head on his shoulder. Humphrey's heart pounded wildly as she leaned onto him and he shuddered as he held back the urge to wrap his arms around her.

"Forgive and forget I guess," he said with a nervouse laugh. Kate giggled at his nervousness and only cuddled closer to him. Much to Humphrey's relief the door of the room swung open and in stepped an older wolf with a kind yet observant and tough appearance.

"Hey what's up Tony," Ricoh shouted out. Tony didn't keep his blank expression long as he broke out with a wide smile.

"That's general to you Ricoh, but it's good to see you boys made it back in one piece,"

"And girls," Lilly said with her unphasable cheery attitude.

"And girls," Tony laughed as he sat down with the group. Humphrey and Kate, realizing the importance of the upcomming conversation, rejoined the others.

"Well I have good news and I have bad news. The bad news is, the Russians have secured several oil fields across the country and have reinforcements comming in litterally by the boatload. The good news is, they have their units spread so thinly that even the most short numbered of Ranger battallions could puch a good dent in the defenses. And on top of that you guys get a break today. You have the day off to rest, but tomorrow you'll be moving out with the Strykers of the 2nd Cavalry," Tony stretched as he stood up and sighed. "Oh and you have a new team member, his name is Axel, here he comes now,"

The doors flew open and a dark looking figure walked in. He was unlike any wolf they had ever seen. His fur was brown patched with black, patricularly around his muzzle, right eye, and left ear. His expression was completely blank, no sign of a smile, frown, or cringe nor was there evidense of him ever showing emotion. It was an abnormal experssion, one that didn't seem real. Midnight was the first to walk over and greet him.

"Hello Axel I'm your team leader Midnight," Midnight held out his hand but Axel just looked at it.

"I do not shake hands," he said keeping his arms to his sides. Midnight looked at him semi-irritatedly and raised an eyebrow.

"Fine then, it's nice to meet you, this group right here will be your family for the duration of the war," Midnight said waving his hand to the group. Axel raised an eyebrow and gave a sleek nod of his head to Lilly, but Blackjack shot him a look that said 'Back off,' notciable enough for the others to see it but they didn't say anything.

"The members of Delta Force are my brother, and team medic, Ricoh. The twins, and the best sniper team I've ever seen, Byron and Haze. Combat specialist Blackjack. And heavy weapons expert Lilly," Midnight said introducing the rest of his team. Although everyone raised an eyebrow and dropped their jaws when he mentioned Lilly being the heavy weapons expert. Lilly blushed and shrugged modestly.

"Guess I forgot to tell you guys that," she said with a nervous giggle.

"Anyway, these are the Canadian forces we rescued earlier today. Humphrey, Saltey, Shakey, Mooch, Devin, Hutch, and Kate," Midnight continued. Axel finally gave a self-centered smile as he looked at Kate, who just rolled her eyes irritably.

"Well, we have the rest of the day off so take this time to do whatever the hell you want," Midnight said as he tossed his trash into the garbage can and left the mess hall. Everyone else started to follow him until Axel grabbed Kates hand and pulled her back to him.

"You know, I'm a very exotic guy, I'm a German shephered, Siberian husky, wolf mix," he said suavely, causing Kate to try and wriggle free.

"I'm sorry but you're not my type," she argued but he wouldn't let go.

"Ah come on baby, why not come back to my tent for a while,"

"She already said no, so why don't you be on your way," Humphrey said stepping in. Axel looked up in irritation and growled at him.

"Why don't you do me a favor pipsqueak and scram," he barked. But Humphrey stood his ground and even took a step forward.

"Look buddy back off," Humphrey growled. Axel's short fuze blew and he let go of Kate and crushed his paw into a fist. Humphrey took a step back but continued to stand his ground. Humphrey close his eyes as Axel started to throw a fist but suddenly felt a dull thud in his stomach, shooting his eyes open. In front of him lay Axel who landed square on his back.

"Bad way to start out your first day buddy, I'm going to put you in your place right now. I have no tollerance for sexual deviants," Blackjack growled. Humphrey looked down to see Blackjack knealing down with his left palm against Humphreys stomach and his right arm completely outestretch into an unusual looking fist.

"Thanks Blackjack," Humphrey said completely winded from the thud in his gut.

"Don't mention it, I'll talk to Midnight about this, in the mean time you and Kate should enjoy the day off," Blackjack said with a quick wink. Humphrey smiled and rushed over to Kate to see if she was alright.

"You okay Kate," he asked helping her stand up.

"Yeah I'm fine, let's just get out of here," she said taking Humphrey by the paw and practically pulling him out of the building. They found the others huddled around one of the barracks talking and laughing but they fell dead silent when Blackjack and Lilly stepped forward.

"Come on Humphrey I want to see what's goin on," Kate said quickly, leading Humphrey over to the group. He didn't mind though, she was holding his paw. She could have led them over a cliff and he wouldn't have cared as long as he still had her paw.

"Well, I didn't like to keep this from you guys for so long, but I wanted to save it as a gift for our teams anniversary," Blackjack took Lilly's paw and held it in the air. "Me and Lilly are getting married,"

The cheers rang out all over the camp as the two hugged each other for the first time in front of their friends. Despite the cheery mood however, there was a storm brewing. A storm that was planning to tear the group apart.

"They should not have stood in my way. They took away my pleasure, and so now I will return the favor," Axel laughed wickedly.


	9. Day 2: 1100 Hours

**Day 2: 1100 Hours**

As the group disperced from hearing the good news about Blackjack and Lilly, Humphrey and Kate headed towards the barracks. Humphrey hadn't noticed it, but Ricoh was watching him carefully. He nodded and quickly rushed to catch up to Humphrey.

"Hey Humphrey hold up for a second," Ricoh called. Humphrey and Kate both turned to see him and smiled.

"Hey Ricoh what's up," Humphrey asked.

"Humphrey, I need your help over in the medical tent for a minute. It shouldn't take too long," Ricoh explained.

"Alright, I'll be there in a second. I'll see you back at the barracks Kate," Humphrey said smiling at her. She smiled back and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed slightly and kissed her back before turning to follow Ricoh. Ricoh opened the door of the tent to let Humphrey in to the empty tent.

"Alright Humphrey this is going to sound weird but pull your pants down," Ricoh said shrugging.

"WHAT," Humphrey asked jumping back in shock.

"Look just trust me for a second,"

"No I'm not taking my pants off, look if you're gay that's fine but I don't-"

"I'm not gay dumb ass, look," Ricoh ducked behind Humphrey and sliced out a square of his trousers.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU-,"

"Here, look for yourself," Ricoh barked Ricoh handing Humphrey the square of fabric. Humphrey took it in pure shock. It was stained completely red with blood and there was a hole in the middle of it, obviously from a bullet.

"Oh my god, I've been shot," Humphrey said almost falling back onto one of the beds. As he sat down he jumped up in pain, finally feeling the effect of the shell.

"I don't know how anyone else hasn't saw it, but you've been limping on your leg. At first I thought you had just sprang it, until I saw the blood on your pants. Thankfully it looks like just a 9 millimeter round so it shouldn't cause much harm. But I don't know how long it's been there, so it could be getting infected. Do you have any idea of when this might have happened," Humphrey thought about Ricoh's question but shook his head.

"No, no I- wait, yeah now that you mention it, I do know when it happened. When the attack first started, Kate's dad got killed, and well, I ran back to get his .44 magnum for her and as I was running into the trees I felt a sharp pain in my leg. I got up as quick as I could and just kept running," Humphrey explained. Ricoh nodded and started to dig around for some gauze wrap, tweezers, and alcohol.

"That would explain it, I guess you've just been running off such an adrenaline rush that it's comepltely covered up the pain. Well, since it's not that serious I'm just going to wrap you up and let you keep fighting. Aha, here we go," Ricoh grabbed a small first aid kit and instructed Humphrey to lay on one of the beds. Humphrey did so and Ricoh got to work. He pulled out the tweezers first and began to examine the wound.

"Well you're pretty damn lucky. The bullets maybe half an inch in you. The guy must have been pretty far away. Hold on a second this might hurt,"

"OH FUCK ME THAT HURTS," Humphrey shoted as Ricoh pulled out the mangled hunk of lead.

"Oh come on you big baby that was nothing. Now I have to clean it with some alcohol to make sure it's clean," Ricoh laughed slightly as he poured some alcohol onto a cotton ball and pressed it against the bullet wound.

"HOLY SHIT THAT'S EVEN WORSE," Humphrey howled loudly. Ricoh laughed at his gross over-reaction and started to wrap his leg with the gauze.

"Want a lolly-pop to make it all better," Ricoh laughed. Humphrey rolled his eyes and ungripped his fists.

"Next time why don't you warn a guy before you do something like that," Humphrey panted. Ricoh smiled and gave Humphrey a pat on the back.

"All patched up buddy. Now, I can't let you go around with a hole in the back of your pants, so let me write you a note real quick," Ricoh scrummaged around some more and found an index card. He scribbled on it for a minute and handed it to Humphrey.

"Here you go, take this over to the supply building and give it to Gavin, he's the S-4 around here, he'll get you what you need," Ricoh explained. Humphrey nodded and took the note.

"Alright, thanks Ricoh," Humphrey said stuffing the piece of paper into his pocket.

"No problem buddy, now if you'll excuse me I have to discuss with a certain general about bringing in some certain ordanances we may need," Ricoh said with a sinister smile.

"Alright, see you later Ricoh," Humphrey said as he walked from the tent. Outside there was movement everywhere. Vehicles continuosly pulling in and dropping off supplies, hellicopters taking off and landing, and the roar of an AC-130 spectre as it shot off the runway. Off in the distance Humphrey could swear he heard the sounds of the war off in the distance. He shook his head as he reached the supply building and found the door wide open. He cautiosuly stepped inside to find a mess of boxes sitting all over the floor and a few uniforms hung on racks.

"Hello, I'm looking for Gavin," Humphrey said as he looked around at the clutter. The next thing he knew an older wolf with glasses jumped up from the mess and smiled at Humphrey.

"Well you just found him. What can I do ya for son," he asked walking over and shaking Humphrey's hand.

"Well Ricoh sent me over here and told me to give you this," Humphrey explained handing Gavin the note. Gavin took it and looked over it for a second then nodded.

"Canadian forces, well then, welcome to our little home away from home. Hang on and I'll get you what you need," Gavin said as he searched through the racks pulling out a jacket, a pair of pants, and a new set of boots. He handed them to Humphrey and looked over Humphrey's uniform for a second.

"Are your patches sewn on or velcro," he asked.

"Sewn on," Humphrey replied.

"No problem, let me get you some new ones," Gavin jumped over to a file cabinet and opened a couple droors and pulled out some random patches. He handed them to Humphrey along with a belt and tan t-shirt.

"Hope you don't mind but we don't have any patches for your unit, but since you'll be working with delta force I just gave you one of their patches, they won't mind. If you want you can use the changing room over there, I'll put your uniform on a hanger and hold onto it for you," Gavin said pointing to a room closed off by a door. Humphrey nodded and picked up all of his new possesions.

"Thank you sir," Humphrey said stepping through the mess over to the room.

"Oh please, just call me Gavin." Gavin said with a slight laugh as he turned his attention back to the mess. Humphrey stepped into the room and locked the door behind him as he took off his own uniform and replaced it with his new one. Once he was done he looked over himself in the mirror, and thought he looked pretty good this way. After giving his old uniform to Gavin for safekeeping he headed outside and made his way to the barracks. There he found Kate standing outside waiting on him.

"So what was that all about, and why are you in that new uniform" she asked cruiously. Not wanting to worry her, he decided to change the story.

"Ricoh just needed some help moving some stuff, and he decided it was better for me to be in an American uniform so we wouldn't be mistaken for enemies," he didn't like lying to her, but he didn't want to worry her with his injury. Their conversation was instantly over-roared by several M777 howitzers which opened fire. Kate rolled her eyes and they decided to head indoors so they could understand one another. They sat down on a bunk Kate had claimed as hers and she leaned her head onto his shoulder. Humphrey sighed happily and smiled. There may have been a war raging, but he didn't have a care in the world.

***Meanwhile***

"KEEP UP PRESSURE WITH THE 2-40 BRAVOS, WE CAN'T LOSE THIS POSITION," Candu shouted as he ducked into a trench holding his injured shoulder. There weren't many of his platoon left. He knew Hutch would have gotten away safely with Kate, and there was still no sign of SGT. Humphrey and fourth squad. He assumed they were K.I.A. but there were no bodies, so he couldn't be sure.

"RIGHT FLANK IS ALMOST COMPLETELY OVERRUN SARGE," he heard over the wireless radio. He slammed his fist into the dirt and pulled his hand from his bleeding shoulder. He grabbed for his H&K sive-seven and slid out the empty magazine and threw in a fresh one. Unfortunately for him it was his right shoulder that was hurt, and he was right handed.

"HOLD OFF AS LONG AS YOU CAN," he ordered laying his weak arm on the top of the trench to shoot. With each recoil of the pistol it felt like a million needles were slicing into his shoulder. But Candu kept firing, if he was going to be killed, he was going to go down fighting. Then it happened all at once. All of the gunners around him clicked empty as their last shells fed through the LMG's.

"RELOADING," they shouted to get cover from the rest of the platoon. But it wasn't enough. Without the heavy fire of the heavier weapons the Russian forces began pushing forward. A massive explosion burst from behind the trench, sending dirt flying all over Candu. He fell over in sheer pain but tried to hold himself on one knee. He looked up with tears heavy in his eyes. He heard the rumble of the approaching armored collumn and shook his head.

"It's over," he whispered to himself. He looked up just as the radio operator rushed up to him holding the radio close to him.

"SARGE AMERICAN FORCES ARE HEADED OUR WAY, THEY'VE ALREADY GOT A C-130 OVERHEAD AND APACHE'S HEADED IN FOR AIR SUPPORT," he shouted enthusiastically. Candu's face lit up with joy and a new energy filled him. He jumped to his feet and started running back and forth the length of the trench.

"HEADS DOWN, STAY UNDER COVER," he demanded, "AIR SUPPORT IS INBOUD."

"Canadian forces this is "Spitfire," we've established an orbit at 30,000 feet and have 105 round's loaded for fire support. Use white smoke to mark the targets," Candu heard buzz in through his headset. Candu threw his rucksack off and dug threw it until he found a white smoke grenade. He pulled the pin and lobbed it as far as he could. Seconds later a thick white smoke began to pour across the enemies mass.

"We see it, keep your heads down this is danger close for the task force. Rounds incomming," the voice was soon drowned out by background noise, which was instantly followed by an absolute hellish barrage of 105, 40, and 25 mm rounds. Had they not been in the trench they would have been dead.

The bombardment lasted for a full minute before it let up. The noise settled and things started to grow quiet, until two AH-64 Apache's burst over the tree-tops. 30 mm rounds sliced through the air and 72 mm rockets blasted craters in the earth as the two helicopters performed a lethal strafe run. The two whirled around and flew back overthe dug in platoon who cheered and shouted in rejoice.

"You're all clear, a Marine CH-53 is inboud to pick you up and bring you to fire base "Phoenix", ETA, 3 minutes," said the pilot. Candu managed to pull stand up and wave his helment to the Apaches as they circled back around and hovered to keep them covered until their evac arrived. Tears flowed down his eyes as the entire platoon began hugging one another in joy and all of the sounds of hell and gunfire were replaced by hope.


End file.
